


The Past Comes Back. Always.

by DraconisWinters



Series: Within the Shadows [41]
Category: LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Animal Abuse, Dehumanization, Gen, LinkedUniverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 17:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19214020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconisWinters/pseuds/DraconisWinters
Summary: He was safe.He was.But he wasn’t.He was never safe.Never.Not from him.





	The Past Comes Back. Always.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning this contains abuse towards humans and animals, as well as dehumanization.

Savage peaked around the corner and smiled seeing no one present. He knew Noble was outside with Tempest, sure Noble didn’t tell him, but Savage was not born yesterday. The rest of the lights were out working on various places of the farm. Leaving him by himself, for the first time in a while. And Savage wasn’t about to waste this opportunity.   
They had all been babying him, not allowing him to try and walk because they were too worried he would ‘tear his stiches’ or ‘hurt himself more’. Savage rolled his eyes, if anyone knew about stiches and injuries, it was him. Savage took long, extremely slow strides out of the room and into the hallway, all the while keeping a look out for anyone.  
With each step he stumbled and lumbered down the hallway, ungracefully and rather noisily checking each room as he passed. His leg was stiff from constant bedrest and his wound ached and strained as the skin pulled with each step, but Savage had made it this far and we was not about to falter now. Eventually he stumbled into what he believed to be the kitchen and was grateful to find it void of life as well.  
Because he was here, he may as well find something to eat instead of forcing Noble to bring him food. Well, he didn’t force Noble but the child-the young man insisted on providing for him anyway. There were numerous cupboards and drawers and Savage hadn’t the slightest clue how to navigate the room; thus he began opening drawer after drawer searching for something, anything that could curb his stomach pains for the time being.  
Despite his inner hunger and the pain in his stomach, Savage was patient as he softly opened each and every drawer working his way slowly around the room. The cupboards would be the next to face his ‘wrath’ in the quest for food.  
Savage reached a drawer closer to the edge and found it to be jammed. It was an older house, so it wasn’t all that shocking. The man messed with it, moving it up and down ever so slightly trying to be it to budge and slowly to hinges and rust began to give way. He pulled open the drawer victorious and looked inside only to freeze, eyes widen in fear.  
There, sitting on top of various papers, was the source of his nightmares and causer of many muffled horrified screams. The item that filled him with so much fear and forced him to lie awake at night with phantom pains haunting his every thought.  
The muzzle.  
Savage reached out in disbelief. It couldn’t be here. It couldn’t! With shaking hands and a pounding heart, Savage picked up the muzzle, flinching as the cold and rusted mental brushed his fingertips. Even with it in his hand, he still was in disbelief. It couldn’t be here! With one hand still holding the muzzle Savage reached up and brushed his cheek.   
Reaching his cheek bones, Savage could feel the lines, permanent reminders of his sufferings, forever etched into his skin. The scratches and sores that had once accompanied the lines, faded long ago, however his skin tugged and ached as though they still existed. His fingers drifted up to brush across a scar that stretched from his just below his eye, to his ear. How had that one happened-?...Oh, yes, he remembered.  
…  
It was just a sparring match. Just an ordinary day of training. Nothing had been wrong at first and Savage had actually been gaining confidence. Confidence can doom one though. There was a single mistake, but that’s all it took. Savage grunted as his sword was flung out of his hand and his body crashed into the dirt. He sat there dazed for a second or two until he heard approaching footsteps and alongside his commanding voice, “Get up! You think an enemy would give you this much time to rest? You’re lucky I haven’t already run you through to prove my point.”  
“Thank you sir,” Savage panted and Eternal scoffed.  
“Pick up your sword and reset,” Eternal growled looking down on him, “Now!”  
Savage quickly scrambled off the ground and snatched his sword up with a shaking hand. It wasn’t shaking out of nerves but rather hunger. At least it was only coming out through trembles that could barely be seen or that could be passed off as fright, rather than loud disruptive gurgles boiling up from his stomach. Savage quickly pushed those thoughts aside and readied himself as he saw Eternal’s eyes narrow, silent threat looming through the air.  
Once he saw Savage was ready Eternal growled, “This time mutt, hold onto the sword.” Savage held in a wince at that name. He hated it…but he endeared it, he endeared all of it, for Noble. The clashing of metal on metal resumed and slowly seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours.   
Fail.  
Reset.  
Go again.  
Fail.  
Reset.  
Go again.  
For hours this game was played. And Savage tried, oh how he tried! Experimenting with different jumps or sword slashes just trying to do something-anything right! And then he began to gain the upper hand once more. He would win this time, he would. Or so he thought until Eternal suddenly got faster, or perhaps he got slower. But no matter what the case is, blow after blow came down and all Savage could do was block and back up. Inching closer and closer towards defeat. His legs trembled form strain and lac of energy. His mind was running a hundred miles a second, yet no thoughts were coherent.   
Block, step back.  
Block, step back.  
“That’s enough,” Eternal eventually said re-sheathing his sword and Savage’s exhausted body gave out as he crashed onto the ground in a panting heap. Savage’s breathe slowly returned and his vision became less blurry as his mind began to clear. Eternal stepped over to him and looked him over before snapping, “Get up, you’re filthy.” Savage nodded, knowing that was his que to go wash up.  
“Of course sir.” He whispered before walking as fast as he could to the nearby spring. Savage could hear Eternal following behind, footsteps as soft and ghost like as ever. Savage fell to his knees at the water’s edge, before cupping a bit in his hands and splashing his face. The cool liquid began to run tracks down his face, carving through the built up dirt and grime. Soon once his face was at least somewhat clean, Savage moved onto his neck and arms.  
He heard Eternal rummaging through the bags as he continued to wash off and catch his breath. Despite the intense sparing it had been a relatively good day…he shouldn’t be too hopeful, but maybe he would finally be able to get some food. Eternal knew he needed it, made sure to regulate when and how much he got. But he had been good today, Eternal had even seemed pleased with him-  
“Savage.”  
His ears perked and Savage turned around to look at Eternal. He was only called Savage if something was wrong or he did something Eternal deemed as ‘good’.   
“What’s this?”  
He was calm, Savage realized. That’s not good. He saw that with one hand Eternal was holding his bag open and the other was tightly clutching some kind of pendant. “I can’t really see what you’re holding sir…” Savage said cautiously, anything could set him off right now. Anything. Savage calmly rose to his feet and began to walk over to Eternal silently praying to anything that would listen for Eternal to not get mad. However, he feared it was already too late-  
“You know exactly what this is mutt!” Eternal snarled, “Don’t lie to me!”   
Savage’s eyes widened in alarm at the change of mood and he took a step back fear flooding his body. “I-I swear,” He pleaded softly, “I don’t know. Please sir, I don’t-,” Eternal stepped towards him menacingly and Savage stepped back, heart pounding.  
“This mutt…IS HIS MARKING!! HIS EMBLEM!!” Eternal roared flinging the pendant at Savage who fumbled around to face it. Once he caught it, Savage looked down at it and realization hit him. He did know what this was and who it belonged too. It was a rather plain stone, however carved into the stone was a symbol. His symbol. Invicta.  
The man had come across Savage, a long, long time ago, stating that if Savage need anything, all he needed to do was ‘call’. But that didn’t matter now. One because Invicta hadn’t been seen in years and two because all that mattered was Eternal was pissed off.  
“Get over here! Now!” Eternal bellowed and like the obedient dog he was, Savage responded. He walked toward Eternal with his head drooping and shoulders cowering inward. Eternal growled and Savage looked up at him, locking eyes. Seeing he had the erembour’s gaze, Eternal smirked and pulled out the muzzle. Savage felt the tremor run through his body upon seeing it once more.  
He then got down on his knees, preparing to shift into wolf form, but Eternal held up his hand. “Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” He sneered and Savage’s eyes widened in panic as he shook his head.  
“Please, Eternal-!” Savage begged but the man stalked over to him and grabbed Savage’s hair, nails digging into his scalp. The younger dark cried out in pain and Eternal tisked,  
“What’s the difference mutt?”   
“Eternal it’s made for a dog-,” Savage pleaded, but Eternal only laughed,  
“What’s the difference mutt?”   
Savage’s eyes clouded with tears and he tried to shake his head but the Eternal’s grip hardly faltered. “Eter-Master please!” Savage cried in desperation. But it was to no avail. Eternal jammed the barbaric contraption on to his face and Savage’s pained scream was muffled by the fact that he could no longer open his jaw, thus only a pathetic whimper left him. It was meant for a wolf’s head much bigger than his own human form. Savage tried to shake his head to free himself but Eternal only pulled the straps tighter in the back causing Savage to cry out. His head felt like it was going to burst.  
“You have one minute to get over to the cage before I lose my patience,” Eternal snarled and Savage rose to his feet, but before he could begin moving Eternal’s eyes narrowed, “Oh no, crawl like the mutt you are.”  
Savage listened and pathetically crawled over to the minuscule cage and curled up inside it, knowing the routine by now. Eternal came by and smirked, “Guess that’s another day without food now, isn’t it Savage.”  
Once the man left, Savage grabbed at the muzzle and tried to pull it off, only for a loose piece of metal to mar his face causing his to cry out. Needless to say, the muzzle didn’t come off for a while.  
…  
Savage’s hand was still atop of the scar, but now he could feel tears streaming down his face as well. Get if off. Get it off! Please!  
“Savage?”  
Savage whipped around and saw him standing there. A scream left his throat and he grabbed on of the kitchen knives on the counter. However he turned to fast and felt something in his leg pull causing him to cry out in pain and collapse on the ground.  
He had to away.  
He had to!  
Clutching the knife protectively in front of his chest Savage inched backward on the floor and his back eventually met the leg of the table. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Savage pulled himself under the table, mind racing.  
How was he here?  
He was safe.  
He was.  
But he wasn’t.  
He was never safe.  
Never.  
Not from him.  
Savage’s eyes shot around the room frantically and he noticed the muzzle he had been holding had dropped to the floor and he was walking over. “Eternal…please,” He whimpered, tears pouring down his face, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” He knelt down and picked up the muzzle and Savage shook his head, “Please no! Anything but that! Not again! Please, Master please!” He sobbed, vision becoming blurry from the amount of tears building up.  
As he panic was increasing, he then sat down far enough away from Savage and just watched him. Savage trembled and shook his head holding the knife out in front of him, knowing full well it didn’t matter. Eternal always won. Always. But he just sat there.  
Why wasn’t he moving?  
Wait, the muzzle was no longer in his hand, where did it go?  
Savage’s vision began to slowly clear and he realized who was in front of him.   
Time.  
He had only one eye and it was blue. He had a calm and patient expression on his face unlike anything Eternal had ever had. He was completely relaxed and was looking at Savage with concern. Noticing Savage had finally seen him, Time whispered, “He’s not here. You’re safe here.”  
But Savage shook his head. Sure it wasn’t Eternal this time, but next time it could be. Next time it would be. He always came back. He always found Savage. He was never safe. Never.  
“Seems you’ve torn you stitches,” Time said gently and Savage looked down, noticing the blood pouring down his leg and he sighed heavily. Damn it. More bed rest. “Anxious to get out and about?” Time asked and Savage shrugged before nodding. “I think I’ve got something that’ll help.” Time then stood up and left only to return a few minutes later with what looked like a wheel chair. Savage glared at it with disdain.  
“Oh I know it doesn’t seem grand or dignified, but this was once mine, so trust me when I say it works,” Time pointed out and Savage looked up at him. The man gave him a soft smile and Savage supposed he could deal with the degrading contraption. At least for now.


End file.
